Mastering
AutoCAD 2008 ®
and AutoCAD LT 2008 ®
George Omura
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Mastering
AutoCAD 2008
®
and AutoCAD LT 2008
®
Mastering
AutoCAD 2008 ®
and AutoCAD LT 2008 ®
George Omura
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Acquisitions Editor: Willem Knibbe
Development Editor: David Ziegler
Technical Editor: Paul Richardson
Production Editor: Martine Dardignac
Copy Editor: Tiffany Taylor
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Vice President and Executive Publisher: Joseph B. Wikert
Vice President and Publisher: Neil Edde
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Indexer: Ted Laux
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Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-0-470-13738-3
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TRADEMARKS: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or
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registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not
associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dear Reader,
Thank you for choosing Mastering AutoCAD 2008 and AutoCAD LT 2008. This book is part of a fam-
ily of premium quality Sybex books, all written by outstanding authors who combine practical
experience with a gift for teaching.
Sybex was founded in 1976. More than thirty years later, we’re still committed to producing con-
sistently exceptional books. With each of our titles we’re working hard to set a new standard for the
industry. From the paper we print on, to the authors we work with, our goal is to bring you the best
books available.
I hope you see all that reflected in these pages. I’d be very interested to hear your comments and
get your feedback on how we’re doing. Feel free to let me know what you think about this or any
other Sybex book by sending me an email at
[email protected], or if you think you’ve found a tech-
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our efforts at Sybex.
Best regards,
Neil Edde
Vice President and Publisher
Sybex, an Imprint of Wiley
To my two wonderful sons, Arthur and Charles, and to
Susan, who helps me to put things in perspective.
Acknowledgments
Many talented and hardworking folks gave their best effort to produce Mastering AutoCAD 2008
and AutoCAD LT 2008. I offer my sincerest gratitude to those people who helped bring this book
to you.
Heartfelt thanks go to the editorial and production teams at Sybex for their efforts. Willem Knibbe
made sure things got off to a great start and was always there for support. Martine Dardignac kept
a watchful eye on the progress of the book. David Ziegler kept things running smoothly and always
had a positive attitude. Tiffany Taylor made sure I wasn’t trying out new uses of the English language.
Paul Richardson did an excellent job of ensuring that I didn’t make any glaring mistakes and offered
suggestions based on his own training experience.
You can see the handiwork of Paul Richardson (not the same Paul Richardson who did the
technical editing) and Christine Merredith of Technical Publications in the sidebars that discuss
the San Francisco Main Library. Thanks also go to the architectural firms of Pei Cobb Freed &
Partners and Simon Martin-Vegue Winkelstein Morris Associated Architects for generously
granting permission to reproduce drawings from their design of the San Francisco Main Library.
At Autodesk, a special thanks goes to Abhi Singh, AutoCAD Production Manager, for taking
the time from his busy schedule to write the foreword. Thanks for the kind words, Abhi. Thanks
also go to Denis Cadu, who has always given his steadfast support of my efforts over many
projects. Jim Quanci always gives his generous and thoughtful assistance to us author types—I’d
be lost without your help, Jim. Finally, as always, a big thanks to Shaan Hurley for generously
allowing us to have a look at the pre-release software.
And a great big thank you to my family and friends, who have always been a source of inspira-
tion and understanding.
Foreword
Congratulations!
As someone interested in AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, or as someone who uses one of those products
to make a living as many do, you have truly made a worthwhile investment.
First of all, it’s all there. You are not going to get a more comprehensive guide than the one you
hold in your hands. Everything from the basics of AutoCAD to programming in AutoLISP and
VBA to installing and setting up AutoCAD is covered.
Moreover, the information is well-organized. Both the contents at a glance and a comprehensive
index make retrieving information you need a cinch.
My personal favorites are the real-world AutoCAD drawings that are available for download.
As every designer knows, there is no better way to learn than by doing, and the drawings are an
excellent tool to guide you through a series of exercises available with each chapter in the book.
Don’t let the size of the book intimidate you. The book is written to be comprehensive, but I
don’t believe anyone uses all the features in AutoCAD. Pick out the tools that you want to learn
about and proceed from there, or if you are interested in learning new things, pick a different topic
each week to learn about.
Whether you’re new to AutoCAD or a veteran, you will undoubtedly find this book to be an
excellent resource.
Now the only question left is: what will you design?
Abhi Singh
AutoCAD Product Manager
Autodesk, Inc.
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxvii
Part 1 • The Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1 • Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 2 • Creating Your First Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 3 • Setting Up and Using AutoCAD’s Drafting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Chapter 4 • Organizing Objects with Blocks and Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Chapter 5 • Keeping Track of Layers and Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Part 2 • Mastering Intermediate Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Chapter 6 • Editing and Reusing Data to Work Efficiently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Chapter 7 • Mastering Viewing Tools, Hatches, and External References . . . . . . . . . 197
Chapter 8 • Introducing Printing, Plotting, and Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Chapter 9 • Understanding Plot Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Chapter 10 • Adding Text to Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Chapter 11 • Using Fields and Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Chapter 12 • Using Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Part 3 • Mastering Advanced Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .379
Chapter 13 • Using Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Chapter 14 • Copying Existing Drawings into AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Chapter 15 • Advanced Editing and Organizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
Chapter 16 • Laying Out Your Printer Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
Chapter 17 • Using Dynamic Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
x CONTENTS
Chapter 18 • Drawing Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
Chapter 19 • Getting and Exchanging Data from Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
Part 4 • 3D Modeling and Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .557
Chapter 20 • Creating 3D Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
Chapter 21 • Using Advanced 3D Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595
Chapter 22 • Rendering 3D Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
Chapter 23 • Editing and Visualizing 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
Part 5 • Customization and Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741
Chapter 24 • Using the Express Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743
Chapter 25 • Exploring AutoLISP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767
Chapter 26 • Customizing Toolbars, Menus, Linetypes, and Hatch Patterns . . . . . . . 789
Chapter 27 • Managing and Sharing Your Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819
Chapter 28 • Keeping a Project Organized with Sheet Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857
Appendix A • Installing and Setting Up AutoCAD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895
Appendix B • Hardware and Software Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921
Appendix C • System Variables and Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 939
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 957
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxvii
Part 1 • The Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1 • Exploring the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Taking a Guided Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The AutoCAD Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Drop-Down Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
The Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Working with AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Opening an Existing File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Getting a Closer Look . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Saving a File as You Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Making Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Opening Multiple Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Adding a Predrawn Symbol with the Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Chapter 2 • Creating Your First Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Getting to Know the 2D Draw Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Starting Your First Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Specifying Distances with Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Specifying Polar Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Specifying Relative Cartesian Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Interpreting the Cursor Modes and Understanding Prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Understanding Cursor Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Choosing Command Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Selecting Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Selecting Objects in AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Using Noun/Verb Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Editing with Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Stretching Lines by Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Moving and Rotating with Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Using Dynamic Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Using the InfoCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Using Context-Sensitive Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Finding Additional Sources of Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Staying Informed with the Communication Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Displaying Data in a Text Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Displaying the Properties of an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
xii CONTENTS
Chapter 3 • Setting Up and Using AutoCAD’s Drafting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Setting Up a Work Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Specifying Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Fine-Tuning the Measurement System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Setting Up the Drawing Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
An Alternative to Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Understanding Scale Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Using Polar Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Setting the Polar Tracking Angle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Exploring the Drawing Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Locating an Object in Reference to Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Getting a Closer Look . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Modifying an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Planning and Laying Out a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Making a Preliminary Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Using the Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Erasing the Layout Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Putting On the Finishing Touches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Aligning Objects by Using Object Snap Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Using the AutoCAD Modes as Drafting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Using Grid Mode as a Background Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Using the Snap Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Chapter 4 • Organizing Objects with Blocks and Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Creating a Symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Understanding the Block Definition Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Inserting a Symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Scaling and Rotating Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Using an Existing Drawing as a Symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Modifying a Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Unblocking and Redefining a Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Saving a Block as a Drawing File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Replacing Existing Files with Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Other Uses for Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Understanding the Annotation Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Grouping Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Grouping Objects for LT Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Modifying Members of a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Working with the Object Grouping Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Working with the LT Group Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Chapter 5 • Keeping Track of Layers and Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Organizing Information with Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Creating and Assigning Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Working on Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Controlling Layer Visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
CONTENTS xiii
Finding the Layers You Want . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Taming an Unwieldy List of Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Assigning Linetypes to Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Adding a Linetype to a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Controlling Lineweights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Keeping Track of Blocks and Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Getting a Text File List of Layers or Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Part 2 • Mastering Intermediate Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
Chapter 6 • Editing and Reusing Data to Work Efficiently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Creating and Using Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Creating a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Using a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Copying an Object Multiple Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Making Circular Copies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Making Row and Column Copies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Fine-Tuning Your View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Finishing the Kitchenette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Developing Your Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Importing Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Using Osnap Tracking to Place Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Finding an Exact Distance along a Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Changing the Length of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Creating a New Drawing by Using Parts from Another Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Eliminating Unused Blocks, Layers, Linetypes, Shapes, Styles, and More . . . . . . . 194
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Chapter 7 • Mastering Viewing Tools, Hatches, and External References. . . . 197
Assembling the Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Taking Control of the AutoCAD Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Understanding Regeneration and Redrawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Understanding the Frozen Layer Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Using Hatch Patterns in Your Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Placing a Hatch Pattern in a Specific Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Positioning Hatch Patterns Accurately . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Updating a Block from an External File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Changing the Hatch Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Modifying a Hatch Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Understanding the Boundary Hatch Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Using Additional Hatch Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Using Gradient Shading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Tips for Using the Boundary Hatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Space Planning and Hatch Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Using External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Attaching a Drawing as an External Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Other Differences between External References and Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
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Other External Reference Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Clipping Xref Views and Improving Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Editing Xrefs in Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Adding and Removing Objects from Blocks and Xrefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Understanding the Reference Edit Dialog Box Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Chapter 8 • Introducing Printing, Plotting, and Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Plotting the Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Understanding the Plotter Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Paper Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Drawing Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Plot Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Plot Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Shaded Viewport Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Plot Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Plot Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
WYSIWYG Plotting Using Layout Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Plot Scale in the Layout Tab Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Adding an Output Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Editing a Plotter Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Storing a Page Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Plotter and Printer Hardware Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Understanding Your Plotter’s Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Knowing Your Plotter’s Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Chapter 9 • Understanding Plot Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Choosing between Color-Dependent and Named Plot Style Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Creating a Color Plot Style Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Editing and Using Plot Style Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Making Your Plot Styles Visible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Making Changes to Multiple Plot Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Setting Up Line Corner Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Setting Up Screen Values for Solid Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Controlling the Visibility of Overlapping Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Other Options in the Plot Style Table Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Assigning Named Plot Styles Directly to Layers and Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Using Named Plot Style Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Assigning Plot Styles to Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Assigning Plot Style Tables to Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Chapter 10 • Adding Text to Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Preparing a Drawing for Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Organizing Text by Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Getting Familiar With the Text and Annotation Scale Control Panels . . . . . . . . . . 292
Setting the Annotation Scale and Adding Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Exploring Text and Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
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Understanding the Text Style Dialog Box Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Exploring Text Formatting in AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Adjusting the Text Height and Font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Understanding the Text Formatting Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Adding Symbols and Special Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Setting Indents and Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
What Do the Fonts Look Like? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Adding Simple Single-Line Text Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Justifying Single-Line Text Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Using Special Characters with Single-Line Text Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Using the Check Spelling Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Choosing a Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Substituting Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Finding and Replacing Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Chapter 11 • Using Fields and Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Using Fields to Associate Text with Drawing Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Adding Tables to Your Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Creating a Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Adding Cell Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Adjusting Table Text Orientation and Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Editing the Table Line Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Adding Formulas to Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
Using Formulas Directly in Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
Using Other Math Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Importing and Exporting Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Exporting Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Creating Table Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
The Table Style Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Chapter 12 • Using Dimensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Understanding the Components of a Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Creating a Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Setting Up the Primary Unit Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Setting the Height for Dimension Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Setting the Location and Orientation of Dimension Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
Choosing an Arrow Style and Setting the Dimension Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
Setting Up Alternate Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Setting the Current Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Modifying a Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Drawing Linear Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Finding the Dimensions Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Placing Horizontal and Vertical Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Continuing a Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Drawing Dimensions from a Common Base Extension Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Adjusting the Distance between Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
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Editing Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Appending Data to Dimension Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Using Grips to Make Minor Adjustments to Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Changing Style Settings of Individual Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Editing Dimensions and Other Objects Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
Associating Dimensions with Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Adding a String of Dimensions with a Single Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Adding or Removing the Alternate Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
Dimensioning Non-orthogonal Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Dimensioning Non-orthogonal Linear Distances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Dimensioning Radii, Diameters, and Arcs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Skewing Dimension Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Adding a Note with a Leader Arrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Creating Multileader Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
Editing Multileader Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
Breaking a Dimension Line for a Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Applying Ordinate Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Adding Tolerance Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Adding Inspection Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Part 3 • Mastering Advanced Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Chapter 13 • Using Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Creating Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Adding Attributes to Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Copying and Editing Attribute Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Turning the Attribute Definitions into a Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
Inserting Blocks Containing Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Editing Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Editing Attribute Values One at a Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Editing Attribute Text Formats and Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
Making Global Changes to Attribute Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
Making Invisible Attributes Visible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
Making Global Format and Property Changes to Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Redefining Blocks Containing Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Extracting and Exporting Attribute Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Performing the Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Extracting Attribute Data to an AutoCAD Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
Chapter 14 • Copying Existing Drawings into AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Methods for Converting Paper Drawings to AutoCAD Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Importing a Raster Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
Working with a Raster Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Scaling a Raster Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Controlling Object Visibility and Overlap with Raster Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
CONTENTS xvii
Clipping a Raster Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
Adjusting Brightness, Contrast, and Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Turning Off the Frame, Adjusting Overall Quality, and
Controlling Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
Chapter 15 • Advanced Editing and Organizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
Using External References (Xrefs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
Preparing Existing Drawings for Cross-Referencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Assembling Xrefs to Build a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Importing Named Elements from Xrefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Controlling the Xref Search Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
Managing Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Saving and Recalling Layer Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Using Advanced Tools: Filter, Quick Select, and QuickCalc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
Filtering Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
Using Quick Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
Using the QuickCalc Calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
Adding Foot and Inch Lengths and Finding the Sum of Angles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
Using the Display Area and Units Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Using QuickCalc to Find Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Pasting to the Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
Finding Fractional Distances between Two Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
Using QuickCalc While in the Middle of a Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
Storing Expressions and Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
Guidelines for Working with QuickCalc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
Chapter 16 • Laying Out Your Printer Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
Understanding Model Space and Paper Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
Creating a Paper Space Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
Creating New Paper Space Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
Reaching Inside Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
Getting Back to Full-Screen Model Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
Working with Paper Space Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
Scaling Views in Paper Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
Setting Layers in Individual Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
Creating and Using Multiple Paper Space Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
Creating Odd-Shaped Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
Understanding Lineweights, Linetypes,
and Dimensions in Paper Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
Controlling and Viewing Lineweights in Paper Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
The Lineweight Settings Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
Linetype Scales and Paper Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
Dimensioning in Paper Space Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
Other Uses for Paper Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
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